drones

Paris woke up to a mystery today. On Monday night, at least five drones — the kind you can buy at a store, not the military variety — were spotted flying above Paris landmarks like the Eiffel Tower. The city, still in shock over the Charlie Hebdo attacks, is taking it seriously.

"When you have something like nighttime flights of unexplained drones over the heart of the capital, it certainly might be designed to rattle the nerves of the security forces," says Time Magazine's Vivienne Walt, who's based in Paris.

Sales of small, camera-equipped drones are soaring. Aside from air safety issues, these remotely-piloted aircraft can raise privacy concerns if they fly uninvited over your backyard or past your bedroom windows.

Wildlife biologists in Oregon could soon have a new tool to count hard-to-reach salmon and coastal birds after the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission approved the purchase of two drones to conduct aerial surveys.

Judging from holiday advertising, lots of teenagers and grownups will find a drone under the Christmas tree this year. But the increasing affordability and popularity of remotely piloted airplanes and choppers is leading to conflict in Northwest skies.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said Thursday women are better off not asking for a raise because they’ll be rewarded in the long term. The U.S. Supreme Court considers when workers are on the clock. Plus, Amazon wants to test drones, a Seattle church protests pot next door and Bill Radke recalls the musical ride of Paul Revere with Knute Berger, Eli Sanders, Joni Balter and Luke Burbank.

Both Oregon and Washington’s state forestry departments had hoped to try out drones this summer to provide reconnaissance at wildfire scenes. But neither firefighting agency managed to pull it off. Now both plan to try again next year.

The word may bring to mind million-dollar jets that carry bombs, but a drone is any aircraft that doesn't have passengers or a pilot onboard. Some look like sophisticated remote-control helicopters and model airplanes.

They're available online and in stores, some for less than $100. But whether and where owners are allowed to fly those drones falls in a legal gray area.